The Collapse of Venezuela & the New Pirates of the Caribbean

Posted on by August 14, 2018

Graphic: OBP

The southern Caribbean has seen a significant increase in piracy of late, at least partially related to the economic and political turmoil in nearby Venezuela. Commerical ships, local fishermen and visiting yachts have all fallen prey to attacks from pirates. Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP), a project of the non-profit One Earth Future, reports that piracy and armed robbery against ships in the Caribbean and Latin America in 2017 rose to 71 incidents, as compared to 27 in 2016, an increase of 163%. 

According to OBP, of the 71 attacks, 42 were directed against yachts, 16 against tankers and bulk carriers, 3 against fishing vessels and 7 toward other cargo vessels. 63 of the attacks were while vessels were at anchor in territorial waters. Anchorages in Venezuela, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Colombia and St. Lucia have been regional hotspots for pirate attacks.

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US Border Patrol Boats Harrass Canadian Lobster Boats in the “Gray Zone”

Posted on by August 12, 2018

Machias Seal Island

This summer, Canadian lobstermen are complaining of being harassed by US Border Patrol agents in speedboats as they fish in waters claimed by both Canada and the US off Machias Seal Island. 

Since around 1733, the US and Canada have agreed to disagree over the ownership of Machias Seal Island, a treeless 20-acre island 10 miles off the coast of Maine, and the surrounding 277-square-mile waters known as the “gray zone.” A lighthouse built and maintained by Canadians on the island in 1832 is still operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. Ownership of the island has long been contested, but the United States didn’t formally assert its claim to the island until 1971.

A long-term compromise over fishing rights has been worked out in which each country imposes its fishing rules on its own vessels. Lobstering around Machias Seal Island attracts both US and Canadian lobster boats.  

While there has been tension between lobstermen in the past, the sudden arrival of the Border Patrol is something new. Continue reading →

Sea Nomads, the Bajau, May Be Genetically Adapted for Diving

Posted on by August 11, 2018

The Bajau people of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia have lived for centuries at sea as hunter-gatherer nomads. They can spend up to five hours a day underwater, diving for fish, octopus and other seafood. The Bajau do not use any sort of diving gear but simply hold their breaths. Some claim that some Bajau divers can swim underwater for as long as 13 minutes at depths over 200 feet. How is this possible? 

Now, scientists think that they may have found the answer. The Bajau appear to have developed very large spleens, roughly 50 percent larger than average. Spleens? Yes, spleens. 
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Repost: The Battle of Stonington, CT 1814 — Rocket’s Red Glare, Bombs Bursting in Air

Posted on by August 10, 2018

Two hundred and four years ago this week, in a three day battle, the militia at Stonington, CT drove off a four ship Royal Navy flotilla during the War of 1812.  Here is lightly edited repost about the battle from July 11, 2012.

Stonington, Connecticut, is a small village on the extreme eastern coast of the state.  In the center of the village, two 18 pound cannon are on display in the fittingly named Cannon Square.  On their tampions, blocking the ends of the cannon’s muzzles, is the date 1814, when the two cannons, manned by local militia, almost miraculously drove off a British force of four Royal Navy ships under the command of Captain Sir Thomas Hardy, Nelson’s flag captain on HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar.  The battle may not have been of any great strategic importance, but was one of a series of American victories in the last days of the War of 1812.

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Navy Supply Officer “Kaz” Prince Pleads Guilty in $2.7 Million Procurement Scam

Posted on by August 9, 2018

Lieutenant Randolph M. Prince, known as “Kaz,” had a pretty slick arrangement. “Kaz” was a supply officer in Virginia Beach, VA. Through friends, he set up sham companies which would be awarded government contracts by Prince. He would generate all the necessary paperwork and certify that contracts had been completed. Then Prince and his associates would share the money when the sham companies were paid by the government. 

Or at least it was a slick arrangement while it lasted. On Monday, the US Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Virginia announced that Randolph M. Prince pleaded guilty to his role in defrauding the government of $2.7 million and to lying on his federal income tax return.  He is scheduled to be sentenced on December 3rd and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

Red Tide & Green Water — Florida’s Algae Disaster

Posted on by August 8, 2018

Florida is being clobbered by a double algae disaster, a virtual algae apocalypse. Red tide, caused by karenia brevis algae is decimating sea life in the Gulf’s salt waters, while blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, is poisoning South Florida’s inland fresh water and coastal bays. The municipalities of Cape Coral and Fort Myers are being hit by both the red tide and the blue-green algal bloom at the same time.

The Miami Herald reports that the South Florida coast has become “a red tide slaughterhouse this summer.”  

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Bryce Carlson Shatters North Atlantic Rowing Record

Posted on by August 7, 2018

Photo: Peter Moseley/Bryce Carlson Adventures, via Reuters

Congratulations to Bryce Carlson who shattered the record for rowing solo, unsupported, from west-to-east across the North Atlantic. He completed the roughly 2,000-mile row from St. John’s, Newfoundland to St. Mary’s Harbor, in the Isles of Scilly in just 38 days, 6 hours and 49 minutes. The previous record on the same route was set by Laval St Germain in 2016 with a time of 53 days 8 hours 26 minutes. Carlson also became the first American to complete that feat.

In the media reports of his record-breaking row, Bryce Carlson is described as a high school biology teacher from Cincinnati. He teaches at a private school where he also is also a track and field coach. The article about him in the New York Times mentions that he is an ultramarathon runner. The Times refers to him as Mr. Carlson, even though he earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Emory University. Was it an oversight on the reporter’s part or does Carlson prefer not to use the honorific of Doctor?

Beyond the challenges of being a high school teacher and coach, Bryce Carlson has an intriguing backstory. An excerpt from his bio when he gave a TED talk at Purdue University in 2016 fills in some of the blanks:

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Iceberg and the White Orcas of the Western North Pacific

Posted on by August 6, 2018

Photo: Tym Morsky svet via Roaring Earth

In 2012, we posted about a sighting one of the first adult all white orca whales in the western North Pacific near the Kamchatka Peninsula. The observation was reported by Erich Hoyt, co-founder of the Far East Russia Orca Project. The rare whale was nicknamed Iceberg. 

Subsequently, additional white orcas, no fewer than five, and perhaps as many as eight, have been sighted.  White orcas are virtually unknown in other oceans. The unusual occurrence of so many white orcas in the region could suggest evidence of inbreeding. Or perhaps not.

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Will New USCG Icebreaker Be Torpedoed by the Border Wall?

Posted on by August 5, 2018

There is a serious crisis at our border. No, not the Southern border, where crossings are at close to a 50 year low. I am referring to our Northern border, the Arctic Sea, where the US has only one heavy icebreaker, the USCGC Polar Star, which at 42-year-old is just barely holding on. On her most recent mission, the Polar Star broke down repeatedly. The Coast Guard also operates a medium icebreaker and a research vessel with light ice-breaking capability. 

Now, Homeland Security has stripped $750 million in funding to build one new heavy icebreaker from its most recent budget proposal, allocating it instead to the proposed border wall. 

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Happy 228th Birthday to the US Coast Guard !

Posted on by August 4, 2018

Happy 228th Birthday to the United States Coast Guard!  The Coast Guard is the oldest maritime service in the US government and somehow always succeeds in doing the most with the very least. 

The United States Coast Guard was established as the Revenue Cutter Service on August 4, 1790, eight years before Congress authorized the Department of the Navy. In the period between when the Congress disbanded the Continental Navy in 1785 and the establishment of the US Navy, the Revenue Cutter Service served as the nation’s only armed force on the sea.  (Of course, the Navy claims their founding dates back to the disbanded Continental Navy because, well, they do.)

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Shark Stolen in a Baby-Stroller From San Antonio Aquarium

Posted on by August 3, 2018

Last weekend, two men and a woman carrying a toddler stole a two-foot-long gray horned shark from an aquarium in San Antonio, TX. They wrapped the shark in a blanket, shoved it in a plastic bucket and hid the bucket in a baby-stroller, which they rolled out of the aquarium. The theft happened to take place on the last day of “Shark Week,” the Discovery Channel’s yearly week of programming about sharks. And no, you can’t make this stuff up.

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Branson Duck Boat Tragedy — the COI and the Severe Thunderstorm Watch

Posted on by August 2, 2018

The Coast Guard has begun a high-level investigation into the recent duck boat capsize and sinking on July 19th, which cost the lives of 17 aboard.  The boat, designated as Stretch Duck 07,  which sank on Table Rock Lake, near Branson, MO, was inspected by the US Coast Guard as a Small Passenger Vessel, under Subchapter T of the Code of Federal Regulations. The boat’s Certificate of Inspection (COI) has been made public and what it reveals is disturbing, if not entirely surprising. 

Under “Route Permitted and Operation” it specifies that :

Vessel shall not be operated waterborne when winds exceed thirty-five (35) miles per hour, and/or the wave height exceeds two (2) feet.

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Thieves Escape by Speedboat After Heisting Crown Jewels

Posted on by August 1, 2018

This sounds like a scene from a 1960 or 1970s “caper” movie. Around mid-day on Tuesday, two men walked into a medieval cathedral in Strangnas, in broad daylight, stole part of the Swedish crown jewels, and then escaped across a lake by speedboat. They are reported to have stolen two gold crowns and an orb made for King Karl IX and Queen Kristina. The objects dated from the 1600s. One of the crowns was jewel encrusted.

The crowns and orb were on display in the Strangnas Cathedral, 60 kilometers (37 miles) west of the capital of Stockholm. The thieves are said to have smashed the glass case protecting the objects and then to have run to two black bicycles left outside, which they had previously stolen. They rode the bicycles a short distance to Lake Mälaren where a white speedboat was waiting for them. They escaped in the speedboat, apparently disappearing into the vast archipelago of islands in the lake west of Stockholm. Mälaren is the third largest freshwater lake in Sweden.

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Amistad at the Mary Whalen — Returning August 11th

Posted on by August 1, 2018

I was fortunate enough to be able to stop by the schooner Amistad last week when she tied up alongside Portside NewYork’s tanker Mary A. Whalen in the historic Atlantic Basin in Redhook, Brooklyn. She is a beautiful schooner with an important story to tell. Amistad is a replica of the original Baltimore clipper of the same name which, in 1839, was seized by captive Africans from Sierra Leone.  A few photos. 

Amistad will be returning to the Atlantic Basin and the Mary A. Whalen August 11th and will be open to the public for free tours from 10am – 1pm & 2pm – 5pm.  For directions to Portside NewYork and the Mary A. Whalen, click here.  Amistad is Connecticut’s flagship and tall ship ambassador.

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Congratulations to Clipper Round the World Race Winner Skippers Wendy Tuck & Nikki Henderson

Posted on by July 30, 2018

Wendy Tuck

The top two spots in the Clipper Round the World Race were, for the first time, won by women.  Australian Wendy Tuck has become the first female skipper to win the Clipper Round-the-World race.  British skipper Nikki Henderson, 25, came in second with her team in the 40,000-mile contest. Thousands watched the race finish in Liverpool, nearly a year after 12 yachts set out from the city.

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